Singkawang is a city located at the province of West Kalimantan or Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia. It is located at about 145 km north of Pontianak, the provincial capital, and is surrounded by the Pasi, Poteng, and Sakok mountain. Singkawang is derived from Hakka, San kew jong which refers to a town in hills nearby a sea and estuary.

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Population

As 2008, according to Dinas Sosial Kependudukan dan Catatan Sipil (Social Residence and Civil Service) of Singkawang City, its population is 198.907 residents, of which majority of resident are Chinese descent. The largest group of chinese descent is hakka people(locally called as Khek based on Hokkien dialect) which is 62% of the population. The other major group of chinese descent is Chaozhou People which is better known as Teochew. The rest are Melayu, Dayak, Javanese , and other ethnicity.

History

From the middle of the 18th century the Chinese governed trading in the city.

City of Thousand Temples

Singkawang is also well-known as the City of A Thousand Temples since there are so many temples can be found in the city and its surrounding. Nearly every god and goddess in Chinese Mythology are worshiped here. People also worship popular historical figures like General Guan Gong, Admiral Zheng He, or even Emperor Sung Tai-zu, which was found to be worshiped in the temple outside the north side of the city.

Food

Chinese food especially Hakka style dominates the food stalls or small restaurants, but Teo Chew style is also available. Minang style food can also be found here. Unique food like "Rujak Ju Hie" (rojak with dried squid) is one of delicacies in Singkawang. Tofu (bean curd) Singkawang is famous in West Kalimantan, also "Kembang Tahu" (silky smooth tofu with sugar gravy) is very popular in this city. Singkawang is also famous for its cakes. The variety of cakes is surprising and available from early morning till midnight. Kopi Tiam (local cafe) with strong bitter robusta coffee can be found every where. Peaceful and safe feeling for everyone makes Singkawang to be one of the cities with lively night. One may enjoy various food in Pasar Hongkong from porridge, kwetiau, fried rice, nasi lemak, rujak (fruit & vegetables salad), cakes coffee stall. And the prices of the food are surprisingly cheap. Local people enjoy the night with their friends discussing the local hottest issues, singing, or playing cards.

Chinatown

Beside it is well-known as the City of Thousands Temples, as there are many small and large temple from any corner of Singkawang region, Singkawang is also known as one of the Indonesian Chinatowns since the majority population is Chinese descendant, consisting of mostly Hakka, teo-chew, hokkian, hainan and some other sub-ethnic of Chinese. They still practice their culture in any ceremony or official events, from weddings to funeral ceremonies. The culture is seen as the closest to the original tradition of Chinese people (mostly refers to Fujian), making Singkawang known as the Indonesian Chinatown.

Languages

Singkawang people use Indonesian as the primary language not only in conversation or trading, but they are also using their own mother tongue. As Singkawang consists of 3 major ethnic groups, Chinese, Melayu and Dayak, Hakka Chinese is the most among all, then almost all of the Singkawang people use Hakka for conversation beside Indonesian, even some parts of the other ethnic people can use it too. The Indonesian used in Singkawang commonly for daily conversation is not a pure Indonesian, but added with a bit Melayu style of the vocabulary as Melayu language is the closest language with Indonesian, yet Singkawang people had been for years accustomed to such language.

Gunung Poteng is one of the main water resources for the city, and lies 7km east. The mountain is a Natural Reserve where unique flora such as the Tuan Mudae Rafflesia grows.

Please see to Tourism-pastikesingkawang.com for tourism information at singkawang

Human trafficking

Singkawang has a large number of incidents of Human trafficking for the selling girls, most of the men who come to Singkawang looking for young women to marry are from Taiwan, China, Malaysia, or Singapore. These men arrive, get in touch with a broker, the broker then approaches a family with a suitably aged girl and generally offers the parents about five million rupiahs (about US$500) for her.

The overseas men of course pay the broker much more than this figure, with one 2006 Singapore source suggesting the fee is around 30 million rupiahs (about US$3,000). Often a time period is stipulated in the contract as well, like two or five years, or sometimes very short periods, and often there is in fact no legal marriage.

From Wikitravel

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Get in

Take a bus from Pontianak to Singkawang. The trip takes about
three hours or 150 km.Singkawang is small town and it is famous for
its multi cultures and religions lives. Singkawang is many
nicknames, there are: The City of One Thousand Temples, or Amoy
City. Amoy means "girl" in Hakka dialect. It is easy to get
accomodation in Singkawang. One of them is "HotelRestu." It is
located on Jalan Stasiun No.77 across from Singkawang's bus
station. Hotel Restu is a budget hotel with good facilities.It has
mini-bar, cable TV, air-conditioned rooms and hot water shower.

[singkawang] as a government city in kalimantan region have get
twice honorable for clean city from Indonesia governmant.So much
place you can enjoyed if visiting singkawang,ex Pantai pasir
panjang,Sinka Island Park,Bougenville Hill,Cidayu indah
Park,Teratai Lake,Hang Moi waterfall,etc.